Early promise was provided when Poli scrambled through the Sassuolo defence and gave Milan an early lead. There wasn’t much more to say about the first half as the visitors were by far the better team and Milan’s midfield shape was most out of sorts. The team had forced changes with de Jong suspended. The 1-1 half time score could have been considered lucky. The second half wasn’t much better and it was another sleepy and poor defensive moment when Simone Zaza shot well from a Sassuolo corner to make it 1-2. Cerci came on for his debut in a refreshingly positive change – for Essien. After the former Torino man came on Pazzini was also added for El Shaarawy and the game seemed to improve overall but Andrea Consigli in the Sassuolo goal was good when he needed to be. In the end this was the kind of loss a team like Milan can not afford and especially in this manner.